Amritsar, May 17 -- Eight years after the daylight murder of Congress councillor Gurdeep Pehalwan, a court in Amritsar delivered a split verdict, acquitting gangster Jagdeep Singh, alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, and four others, while convicting three accused and sentencing them to life imprisonment.

Pehalwan was gunned down on June 2, 2018, at Gol Bagh Akhara on Railway Road in Amritsar, a place he frequently visited. According to eyewitnesses, three armed assailants opened fire on the councillor while several others allegedly assisted them during the attack.

The judgment was pronounced by additional sessions judge Sanjeev Kundi on Friday evening and was uploaded on Saturday. The court held that the prosecution failed to establish charges a...